I.

That the Bible is God’s Word and book I prove thus: All things
that have been, and are, in the world, and the manner of their
being, are described in the first book of Moses on the creation;
even as God made and shaped the world, so does it stand to this
day. Infinite potentates have raged against this book, and sought
to destroy and uproot it—king Alexander the Great, the princes
of Egypt and of Babylon, the monarchs of Persia, of Greece, and
of Rome, the emperors Julius and Augustus—but they nothing
prevailed; they are all gone and vanished, while the book
remains, and will remain for ever and ever, perfect and entire,
as it was declared at first. Who has thus helped it—who has
thus protected it against such mighty forces? No one, surely, but
God himself, who is the master of all things. And `tis no small
miracle how God has so long preserved and protected this book;
for the devil and the world are sore foes to it. I believe that
the devil has destroyed many good books of the church, as,
aforetime, he killed and crushed many holy persons, the memory of
whom has now passed away; but the Bible he was fain to leave
subsisting. In like manner have baptism, the sacrament of the
altar, of the true body and blood of Christ, and the office of
preaching remained unto us, despite the infinitude of tyrants and
heretic persecutors. God, with singular strength, has upheld
these things; let us, then, baptize, administer the sacrament,
and preach, fearless of impediment. Homer, Virgil, and other
noble, fine, and profitable writers, have left us books of great
antiquity, but they are naught to the Bible.

While the Romish church stood, the Bible was never given to
the people in such a shape that they could clearly,
understandingly, surely, and easily read it, as they now can in
the German translation, which, thank God, we have prepared here
at Wittenberg.

II.

The Holy Scriptures are full of divine gifts and virtues.
The books of the heathen taught nothing of faith, hope, or
charity; they present no idea of these things; they contemplate
only the present, and that which man, with the use of his
material reason, can grasp and comprehend. Look not therein for
aught of hope or trust in God. But see how the Psalms and the
Book of Job treat of faith, hope, resignation, and prayer; in a
word, the Holy Scripture is the highest and best of books,
abounding in comfort under all afflictions and trials. It teaches
us to see, to feel, to grasp, and to comprehend faith, hope, and
charity, far otherwise than mere human reason can; and when evil
oppresses us, it teaches how these virtues throw light upon the
darkness, and how, after this poor miserable existence of ours on
earth, there is another and an eternal life.

III.

St Jerome, after he had revised and corrected the
Septuagint, translated the Bible from Hebrew into Latin; His
version is still used in our church. Truly, for one man, this was
work enough and to spare. Nulla enim privata persona tantum
efficere potuisset. `Twould have been quite as well had he
called to his aid one or two learned men, for the Holy Ghost
would then have more powerfully manifested itself unto him,
according to the words of Christ: “Where two or three are
gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”
Interpreters and translators should not work alone; for good
et propria verba do not always occur to one mind.

IV.

We ought not to criticize, explain, or judge the Scriptures
by our mere reason, but diligently, with prayer, meditate
thereon, and seek their meaning. The devil and temptations also
afford us occasion to learn and understand the Scriptures, by
experience and practice. Without these we should never understand
them, however diligently we read and listened to them. The Holy
Ghost must here be our only master and tutor; and let youth have
no shame to learn of that preceptor. When I find myself assailed
by temptation, I forthwith lay hold of some text of the Bible,
which Jesus extends to me; as this: that he died for me, whence I
derive infinite comfort.

V.

He who has made himself master of the principles and text of
the word runs little risk of committing errors. A theologian
should be thoroughly in possession of the basis and source of
faith—that is to say, the Holy Scriptures. Armed with this
knowledge it was that I confounded and silenced all my
adversaries; for they seek not to fathom and understand the
Scriptures; they run them over negligently and drowsily; they
speak, they write, they teach, according to the suggestion of
their heedless imaginations. My counsel is, that we draw water
from the true source and fountain, that is, that we diligently
search the Scriptures. He who wholly possesses the text of the
Bible, is a consummate divine. One single verse, one sentence of
the text, is of far more instruction than a whole host of glosses
and commentaries, which are neither strongly penetrating nor
armor of proof. As, when I have that text before me of St Paul:
“All the creatures of God are good, if they be received with
thanksgiving,” this text shows, that what God has made is good.
Now eating, drinking, marrying, etc., are of God’s making,
therefore they are good. Yet the glosses of the primitive fathers
are against this text: for Bernard, Basil, Jerome, and others,
have written to far other purpose. But I prefer the text to them
all, though, in popedom, the glosses were deemed of higher value
than the bright and clear text.

VI.

Let us not lose the Bible, but with diligence, in fear and
invocation of God, read and preach it. While that remains and
flourishes, all prospers with the state; `tis head and empress of
all arts and faculties. Let but divinity fall, and I would not
give a straw for the rest.

VII.

The school divines, with their speculations in holy writ,
deal in pure vanities, in mere imaginings derived from human
reason. Bonaventura, who is full of them, made me almost deaf. I
sought to learn in his book, how God and my soul had become
reconciled, but got no information from him. They talk much of
the union of the will and the understanding, but `tis all idle
fantasy. The right, practical divinity is this: Believe in
Christ, and do thy duty in that state of life to which God has
called thee. In like manner, the Mystical divinity of
Dionysius is a mere fable and lie. With Plato he chatters:
Omnia sunt non ens, et omnia sunt ens - (all is
something, and all is nothing)—and so leaves things
hanging.

VIII.

Dr. Jonas Justus remarked at Luther’s table: There is in the
Holy Scripture a wisdom so profound, that no man may thoroughly
study it or comprehend it. “Ay,” said Luther, “we must ever
remain scholars here; we cannot sound the depth of one single
verse in Scripture; we get hold but of the A, B, C, and that
imperfectly. Who can so exalt himself as to comprehend this one
line of St Peter: `Rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of
Christ’s sufferings.’ Here St Peter would have us rejoice in our
deepest misery and trouble, like as a child kisses the rod.

IX.

The Holy Scriptures surpass in efficaciousness all the arts
and all the sciences of the philosophers and jurists; these,
though good and necessary to life here below, are vain and of no
effect as to what concerns the life eternal. The Bible should be
regarded with wholly different eyes from those with which we view
other productions. He who wholly renounces himself, and relies
not on mere human reason, will make good progress in the
Scriptures; but the world comprehends them not, from ignorance of
that mortification which is the gift of God’s Word. Can he who
understands not God’s Word, understand God’s works? This is
manifest in Adam; he called his first-born son, Cain—that is,
possessor, houselord; this son, Adam and Eve thought, would be
the man of God, the blessed seed that would crush the serpent’s
head. Afterwards, when Eve was with child again, they hoped to
have a daughter, that their beloved son, Cain, might have a wife;
but Eve bearing again a son, called him Abel—that is, vanity
and nothingness; as much as to say, my hope is gone, and I am
deceived. This was an image of the world and of God’s church,
showing how things have ever gone. The ungodly Cain was a great
lord in the world, while Abel, that upright and pious man, was an
outcast, subject and oppressed. But before God, the case was
quite contrary: Cain was rejected of God, Abel accepted and
received as God’s beloved child. The like is daily seen here on
earth, therefore let us not heed its doings. Ishmael’s was also a
fair name—hearer of God—while Isaac’s was naught.
Esau’s name means actor, the man that shall do the
work—Jacob’s was naught. The name Absalom, signifies father of
peace. Such fair and glorious colors do the ungodly ever
bear in this world, while in truth and deed they are condemners,
scoffers, and rebels to the Word of God. But by that Word, we,
God be praised, are able to discern and know all such; therefore
let us hold the Bible in precious esteem, and diligently read
it.

To world wisdom, there seems no lighter or more easy art
than divinity, and the understanding of God’s Word, so that the
children of the world will be reputed fully versed in the
Scriptures and catechism, but they shoot far from the mark. I
would give all my fingers, save three to write with, could I find
divinity so easy and light as they take it to be. The reason why
men deem it so is, that they become soon wearied, and think they
know enough of it. So we found it in the world, and so we must
leave it; but in fine videbitur, cujus toni.

X.

I have many times essayed thoroughly to investigate the ten
commandments, but at the very outset, “I am the Lord thy God,” I
stuck fast; that very one word, I, put me to the
non-plus. He that has but one word of God before him,
and out of that word cannot make a sermon, can never be a
preacher. I am well content that I know, however little, of what
God’s Word is, and take good heed not to murmur at my small
knowledge.

XI.

I have grounded my preaching upon the literal word; he that
pleases may follow me; he that will not may stay. I call upon St
Peter, St Paul, Moses, and all the Saints, to say whether they
ever fundamentally comprehended one single word of God, without
studying it over and over and over again. The Psalm says; His
understanding is infinite. The saints, indeed, know God’s
Word, and can discourse of it, but the practice is another
matter; therein we shall ever remain scholars.

The school theologians have a fine similitude hereupon, that
it is as with a sphere or globe, which, lying on a table, touches
it only with one point, yet it is the whole table which supports
the globe. Though I am an old doctor of divinity, to this day I
have not got beyond the children’s learning—the Ten
Commandments, the Belief, and the Lord’s Prayer; and these I
understand not so well as I should, though I study them daily,
praying, with my son John and my daughter Magdalene. If I
thoroughly appreciated these first words of the Lord’s Prayer,
Our Father, which art in Heaven, and really believed
that God, who made heaven and earth, and all creatures, and has
all things in his hand, was my Father, then should I certainly
conclude with myself, that I also am a lord of heaven and earth,
that Christ is my brother, Gabriel my servant, Raphael my
coachman, and all the angels my attendants at need, given unto me
by my heavenly Father, to keep me in the path, that unawares I
knock not my foot against a stone. But that our faith may be
exercised and confirmed, our heavenly Father suffers us to be
cast into dungeons, or plunged in water. So we may see how finely
we understand these words, and how belief shakes, and how great
our weakness is, so that we begin to think—Ah, who knows how
far that is true which is set forth in the scriptures?

XII.

No greater mischief can happen to a Christian people, than
to have God’s Word taken from them, or falsified, so that they no
longer have it pure and clear. God grant we and our descendants
be not witnesses of such a calamity.

XIII.

When we have God’s Word pure and clear, then we think
ourselves all right; we become negligent, and repose in a vain
security; we no longer pay due heed, thinking it will always so
remain; we do not watch and pray against the devil, who is ready
to tear the Divine Word out of our hearts. It is with us as with
travelers, who, so long as they are on the highway, are tranquil
and heedless, but if they go astray into the woods or cross
paths, uneasily seek which way to take, this or that.

XIV.

The great men and the doctors understand not the word of
God, but it is revealed to the humble and to children, as it
testified by the Saviour in the Gospel according to St Matthew,
xi. 25: “O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast
hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed
them unto babes.” Gregory says, well and rightly, that the Holy
Scripture is a stream of running water, where alike the elephant
may swim, and the lamb walk without losing its feet.

XV.

The great unthankfulness, contempt of God’s Word, and
willfulness of the world, make me fear that the divine light will
soon cease to shine on man, for God’s Word has ever had its
certain course.

In the time of kings of Judah, Baal obscured the brightness
of God’s Word, and it became hard labor to destroy his empire
over the hearts of men. Even in the time of the apostles, there
were heresies, errors, and evil doctrines spread abroad by false
brethren. Next came Arius, and the Word of God was hidden behind
dark clouds, but the holy fathers, Ambrose, Hilary, Augustine,
Athanasius, and others, dispersed the obscurity. Greece and many
other countries have heard the Word of God, but have since
abandoned it, and it is to be feared even now it may quit
Germany, and go into other lands. I hope the last day will not be
long delayed. The darkness grows thicker around us, and godly
servants of the Most High become rarer and more rare. Impiety and
licentiousness are rampant throughout the world, and live like
pigs, like wild beasts, devoid of all reason. But a voice will
soon be heard thundering forth: Behold, the bridegroom
cometh. God will not be able to bear this wicked world much
longer, but will come, with the dreadful day, and chastise the
scorners of his word.

XVI.

Kings, princes, lords, any one will needs understand the
gospel far better than I, Martin Luther, ay, or even than St
Paul; for they deem themselves wise and full of policy. But
herein they scorn and condemn, not us, poor preachers and
ministers, but the Lord and Governor of all preachers and
ministers, who has sent us to preach and teach, and who will
scorn and condemn them in such sort, that they shall smart again;
even He that says: “Whoso heareth you, heareth me; and whoso
toucheth you, toucheth the apple of mine eye.” The great ones
would govern, but they know not how.

XVII.

Dr. Justus Jonas told Dr. Martin Luther of a noble and
powerful Misnian, who above all things occupied himself in
amassing gold and silver, and was so buried in darkness, that he
gave no heed to the five books of Moses, and had even said to Dr.
John Frederic, who was discoursing with him upon the Gospel:
“Sir, the Gospel pays no interest.” “Have you no grains?”
interposed Luther; and then told this fable:—“A lion making a
great feast, invited all the beasts, and with them some swine.
When all manner of dainties were set before the guests, the swine
asked: `Have you no grains?’” “Even so,” continued the doctor,
“even so, in these days, it is with our epicureans: we preachers
set before them, in our churches, the most dainty and costly
dishes, as everlasting salvation, the remission of sins, and
God’s grace; but they, like swine, turn up their snouts, and ask
for guilders: offer a cow nutmeg, and she will reject for old
hay. This reminds me of the answer of certain parishioners to
their minister, Ambrose R. He had been earnestly exhorting them
to come and listen to the Word of God: `Well,’ said they, `if you
will tap a good barrel of beer for us, we’ll come with all our
hearts and hear you.’ The gospel at Wittenberg is like unto the
rain which, falling upon a river, produces little effect; but
descending upon a dry, thirsty soil, renders it fertile.”

XVIII.

Some one asked Luther for his psalter, which was old and
ragged, promising to give him a new one in exchange; but the
doctor refused, because he was used to his own old copy, adding:
“A local memory is very useful, and I have weakened mine in
translating the Bible.”

XIX.

Our case will go on, so long as its living advocates,
Melancthon, and other pious and learned persons, who apply
themselves zealously to the work, shall be alive; but after their
death, `twill be a sad falling off. We have an example before us,
in Judges ii. 10: “And also all that generation were gathered
unto their fathers; and there arose another generation after
them, which knew not the Lord, nor yet the works which he had
done for Israel.” So, after the death of the apostles, there were
fearful fallings off; nay, even while they yet lived, as St Paul
complains, there was falling off among the Galatians, the
Corinthians, and in Asia. We shall be occasioned much suffering
and loss by the Sacramentarians, the Anabaptists, the
Antinomians, and other sectaries.

XX.

Oh! how great and glorious a thing it is to have before one
the Word of God! With that we may at all times feel joyous and
secure; we need never be in want of consolation, for we see
before us, in all its brightness, the pure and right way. He who
loses sight of the Word of God, falls into despair; the voice of
heaven no longer sustains him; he follows only the disorderly
tendency of his heart, and of world vanity, which lead him on to
his destruction.

XXI.

Christ, in Matthew, v., vi., vii., teaches briefly these
points: first, as to the eight happinesses or blessings, how
every Christian ought particularly to live as it concerns
himself; secondly, of the office of teaching, what and how a man
ought to teach in the church, how to season with salt and
enlighten, reprove, and comfort, and exercise the faith; thirdly,
he confutes and opposes the false expounding of the law;
fourthly, he condemns the wicked hypocritical kind of living;
fifthly, he teaches what are upright and good works; sixthly, he
warns men of false doctrine; seventhly, he clears and solves what
might be found doubtful and confused; eightly, he condemns the
hypocrites and false saints, who abuse the precious word of
grace.

XXII.

St Luke describes Christ’s passion better than the rest;
John is more complete as to Christ’s works; he describes the
audience, and how the cause was handled, and how they proceeded
before the seat of judgment, and how Christ was questioned, and
for what cause he was slain.

When Pilate asked him: “Art thou the king of the Jews?”
“Yea,” said Christ, “I am; but not such a king as the emperor is,
for then my servants and armies would fight and strive to deliver
and defend me; but I am a king sent to preach the gospel, and
give record of the truth which I must speak.” “What!” said
Pilate, “art thou such a king, and hast thou a kingdom that
consists in word and truth?” then surely thou canst be no
prejudice to me.” Doubtless, Pilate took our Saviour Christ to be
a simple, honest, ignorant man, one perchance come out of a
wilderness, a simple, honest fellow, a hermit, who knew or
understood nothing of the world, or of government.

XXIII.

In the writings of St Paul and St John is a surpassing
certainty, knowledge, and plerophoria. They write as if
all they narrate had been already done before their eyes.

Christ rightly says of St Paul, he shall be a chosen
instrument and vessel unto me; therefore he was made a doctor,
and therefore he spake so certainly of the cause. Whoso reads
Paul may, with a safe conscience, build upon his words; for my
part, I never read more serious writings.

St John, in his gospel, describes Christ, that he is a true
and natural man, a priori, from former time: “In the
beginning was the word;” and “Whoso honoreth me, the same
honoreth also the Father.” But Paul describes Christ, a
posteriori et effectu from that which follows, and according
to the actions or works, as, “They tempted Christ in the
wilderness;” “Take heed, therefore, to yourselves.” etc.

XXIV.

The book of Solomon’s Proverbs is a fine book, which rulers
and governors should diligently read, for it contains lessons
touching God’s anger, wherein governors and rulers should
exercise themselves.

The author of the book of Ecclesiasticus preaches the law
well, but he is no prophet. It is not the work of Solomon, any
more than is the book of Solomon’s Proverbs. They are both
collections made by other people.

The third book of Esdras I throw into the Elbe; there are,
in the fourth, pretty knacks enough; as, “The wine is strong, the
king is stronger, women strongest of all; but the truth is
stronger than all these.”

The book of Judith is not a history. It accords not with
geography. I believe it is a poem, like the legends of the
saints, composed by some good man, to the end he might show how
Judith, a personification of the Jews, as God-fearing people, by
whom God is known and confessed, overcame and vanquished
Holofernes—that is, all the kingdoms of the world. `Tis a
figurative work, like that of Homer about Troy, and that of
Virgil about Aeneas, wherein is shown how a great prince ought to
be adorned with surpassing valor, like a brave champion, with
wisdom and understanding, great courage and alacrity, fortune,
honor, and justice. It is a tragedy, setting forth what the end
of tyrants is. I take the book of Tobit to be a comedy concerning
women, an example for house-government. I am so great an enemy to
the second book of the Maccabees, and to Esther, that I wish they
had not come to us at all, for they have too many heathen
unnaturalities. The Jews much more esteemed the book of Esther
than any of the prophets; though they were forbidden to read it
before they had attained the age of thirty, by reason of the
mystic matters it contains. They utterly condemn Daniel and
Isaiah, those two holy and glorious prophets, of whom the former,
in the clearest manner, preaches Christ, while the other
describes and portrays the kingdom of Christ, and the monarchies
and empires of the world preceeding it. Jeremiah comes but after
them.

The discourses of the prophets were none of them regularly
committed to writing at the time; their disciples and hearers
collected them subsequently, one, one piece, another, another,
and thus was the complete collection formed.

When Doctor Justus Jonas had translated the book of Tobit,
he attended Luther therewith, and said: “Many ridiculous things
are contained in this book, especially about the three nights,
and the liver of the broiled fish, wherewith the devil was scared
and driven away.” Whereupon Luther said: “‘Tis a Jewish conceit;
the devil, a fierce and powerful enemy, will not be hunted away
in such sort, for he has the spear of Goliah; but God gives him
such weapons, that, when he is overcome by the godly, it may be
the greater terror and vexation unto him. Daniel and Isaiah are
most excellent prophets. I am Isaiah—be it spoken with humility—to the advancement of God’s honor, whose work alone it is,
and
to spite the devil. Philip Melancthon is Jeremiah; that prophet
stood always in fear; even so it is with Melancthon.”

XXV.

In the book of the Judges, the valiant champions and
deliverers are described, who were sent by God, believing and
trusting wholly in him, according to the first commandment: they
committed themselves, their actions, and enterprises to God, and
gave him thanks: they relied only upon the God of heaven and
said: Lord God, thou hast done these things, and not we; to thee
only be the glory. The book of the Kings is excellent—a hundred
times better than the Chronicles, which constantly pass over the
most important facts, without any details whatever.

The book of Job is admirable; it is not written only
touching himself, but also for the comfort and consolation of all
sorrowful, troubled and perplexed hearts who resist the devil.
When he conceived that God began to be angry with him, he became
impatient, and was much offended; it vexed and grieved him that
the ungodly prospered so well. Therefore it should be a comfort
to poor Christians that are persecuted and forced to suffer, that
in the life to come, God will give unto them exceeding great and
glorious benefits, and everlasting wealth and honor.

XXVI.

We need not wonder that Moses so briefly described the
history of the ancient patriarchs, when we see that the
Evangelists, in the shortest measure, describe the sermons in the
New Testament, running briefly through them, and giving but a
touch of the preachings of John the Baptist, which, doubtless,
were the most beautiful.

XXVII.

Saint John the Evangelist speaks majestically, yet with very
plain and simple words; as where he says: “In the beginning was
the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The
same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him,
and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was
life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in
darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not.”

See how he describes God the Creator, and also his
creatures, in plain, clear language, as with a sunbeam. If one of
our philosophers or high learned men had described them, what
wonderful swelling and high-trotting words would he have paraded,
de ente et es senti, so that no man could have
understood what he meant. `Tis a great lesson, how mighty divine
truth is, which presses through, though she be hemmed in ever so
closely; the more she is read, the more she moves and takes
possession of the heart.

XXVIII.

The Psalms of David are of various kinds—didactic,
prophetic, eucharistic, catechetic. Among the prophetic, we
should particularly distinguish the 110th, Dixit
Dominus; and among the didactic, the Miserere Mei, De
profundis, and Domine, exaudi orationem. The 110th
is very fine. It describes the kingdom and priesthood of Jesus
Christ, and declares him to be the King of all things, and the
intercessor for all men; to whom all things have been remitted by
his Father, and who has compassion on us all. `Tis a noble Psalm;
if I were well, I would endeavor to make a commentary on
it.

XXIX.

Dr. Luther was asked whether the history of the rich man and
Lazarus was a parable or a natural fact? He replied: The earlier
part of the story is evidently historical; the persons, the
circumstances, the existence of the five brothers, all this is
given in detail. The reference to Abraham is allegorical, and
highly worthy of observation. We learn from it that there are
abodes unknown to us, where the souls of men are; secrets into
which we must not inquire. No mention is made of Lazarus’ grave;
whence we may judge, that in God’s eyes, the soul occupies far
more place than the body. Abraham’s bosom is the promise and
assurance of salvation, and the expectation of Jesus Christ; not
heaven itself, but the expectation of heaven.

XXX.

Before the Gospel came among us, men used to undergo endless
labor and cost, and make dangerous journeys to St James of
Compostella, and where not, in order to seek the favor of God.
But now that God, in his Word, brings his favor unto us gratis,
confirming it with his sacraments, saying, Unless ye believe,
ye shall surely perish, we will have none of it.

XXXI.

I have lived to see the greatest plague on earth—the
condemning of God’s Word, a fearful thing, surpassing all other
plagues in the world; for thereupon most surely follow all manner
of punishment, eternal and corporal. Did I desire for a man all
bitter plagues and curses, I would wish him the condemning of
God’s Word, for he would then have them all at once come upon him,
both inward and outward misfortunes. The condemning of God’s Word
is the forerunner of God’s punishments; as the examples witness
in the times of Lot, of Noah, and of our Saviour.

XXXII.

Whoso acknowledges that the writings of the Evangelists are
God’s Word, with him we are willing to dispute; but whoso denies
this, with him we will not exchange a word; we may not converse
with those who reject the first principles.

XXXIII.

In all sciences, the ablest professors are they who have
thoroughly mastered the texts. A man, to be a good jurisconsult,
should have every text of the law at his fingers’ ends; but in
our time, the attention is applied rather to glosses and
commentaries. When I was young, I read the Bible over and over
and over again, and was so perfectly acquainted with it, that I
could, in an instant, have pointed to any verse that might have
been mentioned. I then read the commentators, but I soon threw
them aside, for I found therein many things my conscience could
not approve, as being contrary to the sacred text. `Tis always
better to see with one’s own eyes than with those of other
people.

XXXIV.

The words of the Hebrew tongue have a peculiar energy. It is
impossible to convey so much so briefly in any other language. To
render them intelligibly, we must not attempt to give word for
word, but only aim at the sense and idea. In translating Moses, I
made it my effort to avoid Hebraism; `twas an arduous business.
The wise ones, who affect greater knowledge than myself on the
subject, take me to task for a word here and there. Did they
attempt the labor I have accomplished, I would find a thousand
blunders in them for my one.

XXXV.

Bullinger said to me, he was earnest against the sectaries,
as condemners of God’s Word, and also against those who dwelt too
much on the literal Word, who, he said, sinned against God and
his almighty power, as the Jews did in naming the ark, God. But
he who holds a mean between both, apprehends the right use of the
sacraments. To which I answered: “By this error, you separate the
Word from the spirit; those who preach and teach the Word, from
God who commands baptism. You hold that the Holy Ghost is given
and works without the Word, which Word, you say, is an eternal
sign and mark to find the spirit that already possesses the
heart; so that, according to you, if the Word find not the
spirit, but an ungodly person, then it is not God’s Word; thus
defining and fixing the Word, not according to God, who speaks
it, but according as people entertain and receive it. You grant
that to be God’s Word, which purifies and brings peace and life;
but when it works not in the ungodly, it is not God’s Word. You
teach that the outward Word is as an object or picture,
signifying and representing something; you measure its use only
according to the matter, as a human creature speaks for himself;
you will not grant that God’s Word is an instrument through which
the Holy Ghost works and accomplishes his work, and prepares a
beginning to righteousness or justification.

“A true Christian must hold for certain that the Word which
is delivered and preached to the wicked, the dissemblers, and the
ungodly, is as much God’s Word, as that which is preached to
godly, upright Christians, and that the true Christian church is
among sinners, where good and bad are mingled together. And that
the Word, whether it produce fruit or no, is, nevertheless, God’s
strength, which saves all that believe therein. Clearly, it will
also judge the ungodly, (St John, c.v.) otherwise, these might
plead a good excuse before God, that they ought not to be
condemned, since they had not had God’s Word, and consequently
could not have received it. But I teach that the preacher’s
words, absolution, and sacraments, are not his words or works,
but God’s, cleansing, absolving, binding, etc.; we are but the
instruments or assistants, by whom God works. You say, it is the
man that preaches, reproves, absolves, comforts, etc., though it
is God that cleanses the hearts and forgives; but I say, God
himself preaches, threatens, reproves, affrights, comforts,
absolves, administers the sacraments, etc. As our Saviour Christ
says: “Whoso heareth you, heareth me; and what ye loose on earth,
shall be loosed in heaven,’ etc. And again: `It is not you that
speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in
you.’

“I am sure and certain, when I go up to the pulpit to preach
or read, that it is not my Word I speak, but that my tongue is
the pen of a ready writer, as the Psalmist has it. God speaks in
the prophets and men of God, as St Peter in his epistle says:
`The holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.’
Therefore we must not separate or part God and man, according to
our natural reason and understanding. In like manner, every
hearer must say: I hear not St Paul, St Peter, or a man speak,
but God himself.

“If I were addicted to God’s Word at all times alike, and
always had such love and desire thereunto as sometimes I have,
then should I account myself the most blessed man on earth. But
the loving apostle, St Paul, failed also herein, as he complains,
with sighs, saying: `I see another law in my members warring
against the law in my mind.’ Should the Word be false, because it
bears not always fruit? The search after the Word has been, from
the beginning of the world, the source of great danger; few
people can hit it, unless God, through his Holy Spirit, teach it
them in their hearts.”

Bullinger, having attentively listened to this discourse,
knelt down and uttered these words, “O, happy hour that brought
me to hear this man of God, the chosen vessel of the Lord,
declaring his truth! I abjure and utterly renounce my former
errors, thus beaten down by God’s infallible Word.” He then arose
and threw his arms around Luther’s neck, both shedding joyful
tears.

XXXVI.

Forsheim said that the first of the five books of Moses was
not written by Moses himself. Dr. Luther replied: What matters
it, even though Moses did not write it? It is, nevertheless,
Moses’s book, wherein is exactly related the creation of the
world. Such futile objections as these should not be listened
to.

XXXVII.

In cases of religion and that concern God’s Word, we must be
sure and certain, without wavering, so that in time of trial and
temptation their acknowledgment may be distinct, and we may not
afterwards say, Non putarem; a course which in temporal
matters often involves much danger, but in divinity is doubly
mischievous. Thus the canonists, the popish dissemblers, and
other heretics, are right chimeras; in the face resembling a fair
virgin, the body being like a lion, and the tail like a snake.
Even so it is with their doctrine; it glitters, and has a fair
aspect, and what they teach is agreeable to mortal wisdom and
appreciation, and acquires repute. Afterwards, lion-like, it
breaks through by force, for all false teachers commonly make use
of the secular arm; but in the end, it shows itself a slippery
doctrine, having, like a snake, a smooth skin, sliding through
the hand.

Once sure that the doctrine we teach is God’s Word, once
certain of this, we may build thereupon, and know that this cause
shall and must remain; the devil shall not be able to overthrow
it, much less the world be able to uproot it, how fiercely soever
it rage. I, God be praised, surely know that the doctrine I teach
is God’s Word, and have now hunted from my heart all other
doctrines and faiths, of what name soever, that do not concur
with God’s Word. Thus have I overcome the heavy temptations that
sometimes tormented me, thus: Art thou, asked the devilish
thought within, the only man that has God’s Word, pure and clear,
all others failing therein? For thus does Satan vex and assault
us, under the name and title of God’s church; what, says he, that
doctrine which the Christian church has so many years held, and
established as right, wilt thou presume to reject and overthrow
it with thy new doctrine, as though it were false and erroneous,
thereby producing trouble, alteration, and confusion, both in
spiritual and temporal government?

I find this argument of the devil in all the prophets, whom
the rulers, both in church and state, have ever upbraided,
saying: We are God’s people, placed and ordained by God in an
established government; what we settle and acknowledge as right,
that must and shall be observed. What fools are ye that presume
to teach us, the best and largest part, there being of you but a
handful? Truly, in this case, we must not only be well armed with
God’s Word, and versed therein, but must have also certainty of
the doctrine, or we shall not endure the combat. A man must be
able to affirm, I know for certain, that what I teach is the only
Word of the high Majesty of God in heaven, his final conclusion
and everlasting, unchangeable truth, and whatsoever concurs and
agrees not with this doctrine, is altogether false, and spun by
the devil. I have before me God’s Word which cannot fail, nor can
the gates of hell prevail against it; thereby will I remain,
though the whole world be against me. And withal, I have this
comfort, that God says: I will give thee people and hearers that
shall receive it; cast thy care upon me; I will defend thee, only
remain thou stout and steadfast by my Word.

We must not regard what or how the world esteems us, so we
have the Word pure, and are certain of our doctrine. Hence
Christ, in John viii. “Which of you convinceth me of sin:?” All
the apostles were most certain of their doctrine; and St Paul, in
special manner, insists on the Plerophoria, where he
says to Timothy: “It is a dear and precious word, that Jesus
Christ is come into the world to save sinners.” The faith toward
God in Christ must be sure and steadfast, that it may solace and
make glad the conscience, and put it to rest. When a man has this
certainty, he has overcome the serpent; but if he be doubtful of
the doctrine, it is for him very dangerous to dispute with the
devil.

XXXVIII.

A fiery shield is God’s Word; of more substance and purer
than gold, which, tried in the fire, loses naught of its
substance, but resists and overcomes all the fury of the fiery
heat; even so, he that believes God’s Word overcomes all, and
remains secure everlastingly, against all misfortunes; for this
shield fears nothing, neither hell nor the devil.

XXXIX.

I never thought the world had been so wicked, when the
Gospel began, as now I see it is; I rather hoped that every one
would have leaped for joy to have found himself freed from the
filth of the pope, from his lamentable molestations of poor
troubled consciences, and that through Christ they would by faith
obtain the celestial treasure they sought after before with such
vast cost and labor, though in vain. And especially I thought the
bishops and universities would with joy of heart have received
the true doctrines, but I have been lamentably deceived. Moses
and Jeremiah, too, complained they had been deceived.

XL.

The thanks the world now gives to the doctrine of the
gospel, is the same it gave to Christ, namely, the cross; `tis
what we must expect. This year is the year of man’s ingratitude:
the next will be the year of God’s chastisement; for God must
needs chastise, though `tis against his nature: we will have it
so.

XLI.

Ah, how impious and ungrateful is the world, thus to condemn
and persecute God’s ineffable grace! And we—we ourselves—who
boast of the gospel, and know it to be God’s Word, and recognize
it for such, yet hold it in no more esteem and respect than we do
Virgil or Terence. Truly, I am less afraid of the pope and his
tyrants, than I am of our own ingratitude towards the Word of
God: `tis this will place the pope in his saddle again. But,
first, I hope the day of judgment will come.

XLII.

God has his measuring lines and his canons, called the Ten
Commandments; they are written in our flesh and blood: the sum of
them is this: “What thou wouldest have done to thyself, the same
do thou to another.” God presses upon this point, saying: “Such
measure as thou metest, the same shall be measured to thee
again.” With this measuring line has God marked the whole world.
They that live and do thereafter, well it is with them, for God
richly rewards them in this life.

XLIII.

Is it true that God speaks himself with us in the Holy
Scriptures? thou that doubtest this, must needs think in thy
heart that God is a liar, one that says a thing, and performs it
not; but thou mayest be sure when he opens his mouth, it is as
much as three worlds. God, with one sole word, moulded the whole
world. In Psalm xxxiii. it is said: “When he speaketh, it is
done; when he commandeth, it standeth fast.”

XLIV.

We must make a great difference between God’s Word and the
word of man. A man’s word is a little sound, that flies into the
air, and soon vanishes; but the Word of God is greater than
heaven and earth, yea, greater than death and hell, for it forms
part of the power of God, and endures everlastingly; we should,
therefore, diligently study God’s Word, and know and assuredly
believe that God himself speaks unto us. This was what David saw
and believed, who said: “God spake in his holiness, thereof I am
glad.” We should also be glad; but this gladness is oftentimes
mixed up with sorrow and pain, of which, again, David is an
example, who underwent manifold trials and tribulations in
connection with the murder and adultery he had committed. It was
no honeymoon for him, when he was hunted from one place to
another, to the end he might after remain in God’s fear. In the
second Psalm he says: “Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with
trembling.”

XLV.

The student of theology has now far greater advantages than
students ever before had; first, he has the Bible, which I have
translated from Hebrew into German, so clearly and distinctly,
that any one may readily comprehend it; next, he has Melancthon’s
Common-place Book (Loci Communes), which he should read
over and over again, until he has it by heart. Once master of
these two volumes, he may be regarded as a theologian whom
neither devil nor heretic can overcome; for he has all divinity
at his fingers’ ends, and may read, understandingly, whatsoever
else he pleases. Afterwards, he may study Melancthon’s Commentary
on Romans, and mine on Deuteronomy and on the Galatians, and
practice eloquence.

We possess no work wherein the whole body of theology,
wherein religion, is more completely summed up, than in
Melancthon’s Common-place Book; all the Fathers, all the
compilers of sentences, put together, are not to be compared with
this book. `Tis, after the Scriptures, the most perfect of works.
Melancthon is a better logician than myself; he argues better. My
superiority lies rather in the rhetorical way. If the printers
would take my advice, they would print those of my books which
set forth doctrine,—as my commentaries on Deuteronomy, on
Galatians, and the sermons on the four books of St John. My other
writings scarce serve better purpose than to mark the progress of
the revelation of the gospel.

XLVI.

Christ (Luke viii.) says, “Unto you it is given to know the
mysteries of the kingdom of God.” Here a man might ask, What
mystery is that? If a mystery, why do you preach it? Whereunto I
answer: A mystery is a thing hidden and secret; the mysteries of
the kingdom of God are such things as lie hidden in the kingdom
of God; but he that knows Christ aright, knows what God’s kingdom
is, and what therein is to be found. They are mysteries, because
secret and hidden from human sense and reason, when the Holy
Ghost does not reveal them; for though many hear of them, they
neither conceive nor understand them. There are now many among us
who preach of Christ, and hear much spoken of him, as that he
gave himself to death for us, but this lies only upon the tongue,
and not in the heart; for they neither believe it, nor are
sensible of it; as St Paul says: “The natural man perceiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God.”

Those on whom the Spirit of God falls, not only hear and see
it, but also receive it within their hearts and believe, and
therefore it is no mystery or secret to them.

XLVII.

`Twas a special gift of God that speech was given to
mankind; for through the Word, and not by force, wisdom governs.
Through the Word people are taught and comforted, and thereby all
sorrow is made light, especially in cases of the conscience.
Therefore God gave to his Church an eternal Word to hear, and the
sacraments to use. But this holy function of preaching the Word
is, by Satan, fiercely resisted; he would willingly have it
utterly suppressed, for thereby his kingdom is destroyed.

Truly speech has wonderful strength and power, that through
a mere word, proceeding out of the mouth of a poor human
creature, the devil, that so proud and powerful spirit, should be
driven away, shamed and confounded.

The sectaries are so impudent, that they dare to reject the
word of the mouth; and to smooth their damnable opinions, say: No
external thing makes one to be saved; the word of the mouth and
the sacraments are external things: therefore they make us not to
be saved. But I answer: We must discriminate wholly between the
external things of God and the outward things of man. The
external things of God are powerful and saving; it is not so with
the outward things of man.

XLVIII.

God alone, through his Word, instructs the heart, so that it
may come to the serious knowledge how wicked it is, and corrupt
and hostile to God. Afterwards God brings man to the knowledge of
God, and how he may be freed from sin, and how, after this
miserable, evanescent world, he may obtain life everlasting.
Human reason, with all its wisdom, can bring it no further than
to instruct people how to live honestly and decently in the
world, how to keep house, build, etc., things learned from
philosophy and heathenish books. But how they should learn to
know God and his dear Son, Christ Jesus, and to be saved, this
the Holy Ghost alone teaches through God’s Word; for philosophy
understands naught of divine matters. I don’t say that men may
not teach and learn philosophy; I approve thereof, so that it be
within reason and moderation. Let philosophy remain within her
bounds, as God has appointed, and let us make use of her as of a
character in a comedy; but to mix her up with divinity may not be
endured; nor is it tolerable to make faith an accidens
or quality, happening by chance; for such words are merely
philosophical—used in schools and in temporal affairs, which
human sense and reason may comprehend. But faith is a thing in
the heart, having its being and substance by itself, given of God
as his proper work, not a corporal thing, that may be seen, felt,
or touched.

XLIX.

We must know how to teach God’s Word aright, discerningly,
for there are divers sorts of hearers; some are struck with fear
in the conscience, are perplexed, and awed by their sins, and, in
apprehension of God’s anger, are penitent; these must be
comforted with the consolations of the gospel. Others are
hardened, obstinate, stiff-necked, rebel-hearted; these must be
affrighted by the law, by examples of God’s wrath: as the fires
of Elijah, the deluge, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the
downfall of Jerusalem. These hard heads need sound knocks.

L.

The gospel of the remission of sins through faith in Christ,
is received of few people; most men little regard the sweet and
comfortable tidings of the gospel; some hear it, but only even so
as they hear mass in popedom; the majority attend God’s Word out
of custom, and, when they have done that, think all is well. The
case is, the sick, needing a physician, welcome him; but he that
is well, cares not for him, as we see by the Canaanitish woman in
Matthew xv., who felt her own and her daughter’s necessities, and
therefore ran after Christ, and in nowise would suffer herself to
be denied or sent away from him. In like manner, Moses was fain
to go before, and learn to feel sins, that so grace might taste
the sweeter. Therefore, it is but labor lost (how familiar and
loving soever Christ be figured unto us), except we first be
humbled through the acknowledgment of our sins, and so yearn
after Christ, as the Magnificat says: “He filled the
hungry with good things, and the rich he hath sent empty away,”
words spoken for the comfort of all, and for instruction of
miserable, poor, needful sinners, and condemned people, to the
end that in all their deepest sorrows and necessities they may
know with whom to take refuge and seek aid and consolation.

But we must take fast hold on God’s Word, and believe all
true which that says of God, though God and all his creatures
should seem unto us other than as the Word speaks, as we see the
Canaanitish woman did. The Word is sure, and fails not, though
heaven and earth must pass away. Yet, oh! how hard is this to
natural sense and reason, that it must strip itself naked, and
abandon all it comprehends and feels, depending only upon the
bare Word. The Lord of his mercy help us with faith in our
necessities, and at our last end, when we strive with
death.

LI.

Heaven and earth, all the emperors, kings, and princes of
the world, could not raise a fit dwelling-place for God; yet, in
a week human soul, that keeps his Word, he willingly resides.
Isaiah calls heaven the Lord’s seat, and earth his footstool; he
does not call them his dwelling-place; when we seek after God, we
shall find him with them that keep his Word. Christ says: “If a
man love me, he will keep my words, and my father will love him,
and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” Nothing
could be simpler or clearer than these words of the Saviour, and
yet he confounds herewith all the wisdom of the worldly-wise. He
sought to speak non in sublimi sed humili genere. If I
had to teach a child, I would teach him in the same way.

LII.

Great is the strength of the Divine Word. In the epistle to
the Hebrews, it is called “a two-edged sword.” But we have
neglected and condemned the pure and clear Word, and have drunk
not of the fresh and cool spring; we are gone from the clear
fountain to the foul puddle, and drunk its filthy water; that is,
we have sedulously read old writers and teachers, who went about
with speculative reasonings, like the monks and friars.

The words of our Saviour Christ are exceeding powerful; they
have hands and feet; they outdo the utmost subtleties of the
worldly-wise, as we see in the gospel, where Christ confounds the
wisdom of the Pharisees with plain and simple words, so that they
knew not which way to turn and wind themselves. It was a sharp
syllogism of his: “Give unto Caesar the things which are
Caesar’s;” wherewith he neither commanded nor prohibited, but
snared them in their own casuistry.

LIII.

Where God’s Word is taught pure and unfalsified, there is
also poverty, as Christ says: “I am sent to preach the Gospel to
the poor.” More than enough has been given to unprofitable, lazy,
ungodly people in monasteries and cells, who lead us into danger
of body and soul; but not one farthing is given, willingly, to a
Christian teacher. Superstition, idolatry, and hypocrisy, have
ample wages, but truth goes a begging.

LIV.

When God preaches his Word, then presently follows the cross
to godly Christians; as St Paul testifies: “All that will live a
godly life in Christ Jesus, must suffer persecution.” And our
Saviour: “The disciple is not greater than the master: have they
persecuted me? they will persecute you also.” the work rightly
expounds and declares the Word, as the prophet Isaiah: Grief and
sorrow teach how to mark the Word. No man understands the
Scriptures, unless he be acquainted with the cross.

LV.

In the time of Christ and the apostles, God’s Word was a
word of doctrine, which was preached everywhere in the world;
afterwards in popedom it was a Word of reading, which they only
read, but understood not. In this our time, it is made a Word of
strife, which fights and strives; it will endure its enemies no
longer, but remove them out of the way.

LVI.

Like as in the world a child is an heir only because it is
born to inherit, even so, faith only makes such to be God’s
children as are born of the Word, which is the womb wherein we
are conceived, born, and nourished, as the prophet Isaiah says.
Now, as through such a birth we become God’s children, (wrought
by God without our help or doing,) even so, we are also heirs,
and being heirs, are freed from sin, death, and the devil, and
shall inherit everlasting life.

LVII.

I admonish every pious Christian that he take not offence at
the plain, unvarnished manner of speech of the Bible. Let him
reflect that what may seem trivial and vulgar to him, emanates
from the high majesty, power, and wisdom of God. The Bible is the
book that makes fools of the wise of this world; it is only
understood by the plain and simple hearted. Esteem this book as
the precious fountain that can never be exhausted. In it thou
findest the swaddling-clothes and the manger whither the angels
directed the poor, simple shepherds; they seem poor and mean, but
dear and precious is the treasure that lies therein.

LVIII.

The ungodly papists prefer the authority of the church far
above God’s Word; a blasphemy abominable and not to be endured;
wherewith, void of all shame and piety, they spit in God’s face.
Truly, God’s patience is exceeding great, in that they be not
destroyed; but so it always has been.

LIX.

In times past, as in part of our own, `twas dangerous work
to study, when divinity and all good arts were condemned, and
fine, expert, and prompt wits were plagued with sophistry.
Aristotle, the heathen, was held in such repute and honor, that
whoso undervalued or contradicted him, was held, at Cologne, for
an heretic; whereas they themselves understood not
Aristotle.

LX.

In the apostles’ time, and in our own, the gospel was and is
preached more powerfully and spread further than it was in the
time of Christ; for Christ had not such repute, nor so many
hearers as the apostles had, and as now we have. Christ himself
says to his disciples; Ye shall do greater works than I; I am but
a little grain of mustard-seed; but ye shall be like the
vine-tree, and as the arms and boughs wherein the birds shall
build their nests.

LXI.

All men now presume to criticize the gospel. Almost every
old doting fool or prating sophist must, forsooth, be a doctor in
divinity. All other arts and sciences have masters, of whom
people must learn, and rules and regulations which must be
observed and obeyed; the Holy Scripture only, God’s Word, must be
subject to each man’s pride and presumption; hence; so many
sects, seducers, and offences.

LXII.

I did not learn my divinity at once, but was constrained by
my temptations to search deeper and deeper; for no man, without
trials and temptations, can attain a true understanding of the
Holy Scriptures. St Paul had a devil that beat him with fists,
and with temptations drove him diligently to study the Holy
Scripture. I had hanging on my neck the pope, the universities,
all the deep-learned, and the devil; these hunted me into the
Bible, wherein I sedulously read, and thereby, God be praised, at
length attained a true understanding of it. Without such a devil,
we are but only speculators of divinity, and according to our
vain reasoning, dream that so and so it must be, as the monks and
friars in monasteries do. The Holy Scripture of itself is certain
and true; God grant me grace to catch hold of its just use.